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Korean Lesson: The + Adjective in Korean

For the second time
around, I am going to talk about the article the which is
non-existent in the Korean language. So what in this world I am writing a note
about it again? In the previous post, I shared my own analysis whether the
super-four particles (이-가-은-는)
could take the place of ‘the’ in Korean. And the answer… can be found here.
This time, let's take a look at two phrases which is grammatically incomplete
without this article.

First, we use 'the'
in the superlative form of adjectives as in the easiest, the
farthest, and the most interesting. Whether you use the
'adjective + est' form or the 'most + adjective' form, the
article 'the' is always present.

Surprisingly, there
are also two ways to change an adjective into its superlative form in Korean-
the 가장 + adjective and 제일 + adjective. They good thing is you won't be struggling which one to use
since they are primarily interchangeable. In the case where an adjective modifies
a noun, we simply add –ㄴ or –은 on
the verb stem depending on the final sound.

MOST +
ADJECTIVE

우리아들제일잘생겼어.

My son is the most handsome.

요즘드라마들중에도깨비가가장재미있어.

'Goblin' is the most interesting drama
these days.

영어는제일쉽지.

Of course, English is the easiest.

MOST +
ADJECTIVE + NOUN

서울은한국에서가장큰도시예요.

Seoul is the largest city in Korea.

그건내인생에가장어려운결정이었어.

That was the most difficult decision in my
life.

6월 21일은 1년중낮이제일긴날입니다.

The 21st of June is the
longest day of the year.

Second, we always
use 'the' in the expression one of the + noun. It is used to
express that something is one among many as in ‘one of the members of’,
‘one of the countries in’, and ‘one of the things that’, etc. Just follow the
pattern ‘noun + 중하나이다’
and you are all set.

미얀마는동남아시아의국가중하나이다.

Myanmar is one of the countries in
Southeast Asia.

다현이는걸그룹트와이스멤버들중에하나이다.

Dahyun is one of the members of the
girl-group Twice.

쿨의 '아로하’는내가자주듣는것중하나이다.

The song 'Aloha' of Cool is one of the
songs I often listen to.

In the second
example, 하나이다 can be replaced with 한명이다 since
our subject is a person. In the third example, 것 can
be replaced with the word 노래 since our subject falls to that
category.

Now, let's combine
'superlative + adjective' and 'one of the + noun' into one sentence.

세종대왕은조선시대의가장훌륭한왕중한명입니다.

King Sejong is one of the greatest king of
Joseon Era.

민성이는우리반에서가장똑똑한학생들중한명이다.

Minseong is one of the smartest students
in my class.

한국말은여려운데도세계에서가장아름다운언어중하나이다.

Korean, though hard, is one of the most
beautiful languages in the world.